America's Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage chronicles the evolution of the social movement for same-sex marriage in the United States and examines the political controversies surrounding gay people's quest for access to the civil institution of marriage. The book focuses on the momentous events that began in November 2003, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared unequivocally that the state's conferral of marriage only on opposite-sex couples violated constitutional principles of respect for individual autonomy and equality under law. The decision both triggered a political backlash of national proportion and prompted officials in Massachusetts, San Francisco, Multnomah County, Sandoval County and New Paltz to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The volume relies on in-depth interviews to provide an insider account of how courts, politicians, and activists maneuver and deal with a cutting-edge social policy issue, as well as real-life narratives about everyday people whom the debate immediately affects.

• Unique storytelling approach to complicated legal and political issues makes such matters accessible to the average reader
• Lively debates between advocates on both sides of the struggle provide comprehensive understanding of cutting-edge controversy
• Unobtrusive scholarly analysis helps place material in larger social and political context

Contents

Review

'Pinello excellently documents the trials and tribulations of integrationist politics regarding same-sex marriage but for more radical advocates of sexual change the book will serve to confirm the argument that to be accepted in politics one has to heterosexualize.' Kirsty Alexander, University of Strathclyde